World Englishes

Use the submissions form below to suggest a World English term for inclusion in the OED:

If you would like to explore the varieties of English included in the OED further but do not have personal or institutional access to the OED, get in touch to request a temporary access code.

Visit the OED blog or watch the video below for insights into our work drafting dictionary entries for the many varieties of English spoken all around the world, and how social media is helping our editors to access and document shifts in language that would once have largely been out of reach.

The OED works in partnership with external experts from or in the appropriate regions to ensure that our entries for World Englishes draw from local knowledge and expertise and reflect the everyday realities and distinctive identities of different English-speaking communities.

You can find information on pronunciation of different varieties of English on the OED‘s pronunciation pages. The below blog article may also be of interest:

• Release notes: World English pronunciations

Yet there is a group of people who do not view code-switching in such a negative light, and these people are linguists. Indeed, it is a linguist whom the OED records as having written the earliest known use of the term code-switching in print—Lucy Shepard Freeland, who used it in her 1951 monograph on the language of the Sierra Miwok people of California. Linguists needed to have a name for this linguistic phenomenon that can reveal so much about the inner workings of human language and cognition.

Excerpt taken from’Switching gears: revising code-switching, n.’

• From ‘abaca’ to ‘kilig’: World English and the OED
• Switching gears: revising code-switching, n.
• Circuit breakers, PPEs, and Veronica buckets: World Englishes and Covid-19
• When regional Englishes got their words
• What do ‘dungarees’ mean to you? Crowdsourcing an answer from Twitter

We have produced a teaching activity pack with three lessons which teachers can use to introduce World Englishes in the English language classroom with the help of the OED. This freely downloadable resource was developed by the OED in collaboration with ELT specialist and teacher trainer Ms Sophia Khan of the British Council in Singapore and linguist and lecturer Dr Hyejeong Ahn of Nanyang Technological University:

• World English teaching activity pack

For additional teaching resources, please visit our teaching resources page.

• Salazar, D. 2021. Documenting World Englishes in the Oxford English Dictionary: Past perspectives, present developments, and future directions. In Research Developments in World Englishes. Onysko, A., ed. London: Bloomsbury, pp. 271-294.
• Ahn, H. J., Salazar, D., Khan, S. 2021. Enhancing teachers’ awareness of Global Englishes using the Oxford English Dictionary. In Language Teacher Education for Global Englishes: A Practical Resource Book. Selvi, A.F., Yazan, B. eds. Oxford: Routledge, pp. 100-107.
• Salazar, D., Deang, R. K. 2021. En santé publique, il est important d’utiliser les mots justes. Coronavirus: une conversation mondiale. France Culture.
• Salazar, D. 2018. From datus to trapos: Reading Philippine history in the OED. New Mandala.
• Salazar, D. 2017. Philippine English in the Oxford English Dictionary: Recent advancements and implications for ESL in the Philippines. Philippine ESL Journal, 19, pp. 45-59.
• Muñoz Basols, J., Salazar, D. 2016. Cross-linguistic lexical influence between English and Spanish. Spanish in Context, 13(1), pp. 80-102.
• Salazar, D. 2015. The vocabulary of non-dominant varieties of English in the Oxford English Dictionary. In Pluricentric languages: New perspectives in theory and description. Muhr, R., Marley, D., eds. Oxford: Peter Lang, pp. 73-88.
• Salazar, D. 2014. Towards improved coverage of Southeast Asian Englishes in the Oxford English Dictionary. Lexicography: Journal of Asialex, 1, pp. 95-108.
• Price, J. 2003. The recording of vocabulary from the major varieties of English in the Oxford English Dictionary. In The politics of English as a world language: new horizons in postcolonial cultural studies. Mair, C. ed. Amsterdam: Rodopi, pp. 119-137.
• Weiner, E. 1987. The New OED and World English. English Today, 3(3), pp. 31-34. (Reprinted from English World-Wide, 7, pp. 259-266).

Excerpts from Language prejudice and the documentation of minoritized varieties of English – virtual talk and panel discussion.

The opinions and other information hereby presented do not necessarily reflect the opinions or positions of Oxford University Press.

Learn more about why the OED documents World Englishes

• The importance of documenting minoritized varieties of English: excerpt featuring Dr Kingsley Ugwuanyi
• The importance of documenting minoritized varieties of English: excerpt featuring Dr Rosemary Hall
• The importance of documenting minoritized varieties of English: excerpt featuring Kelly Elizabeth Wright
• Do we need language standards? Excerpt featuring Dr Rosemary Hall
• Do we need language standards? Excerpt featuring Kelly Elizabeth Wright
• Do we need language standards? Excerpt featuring Dr Kingsley Ugwuanyi
• Fighting language prejudice towards minoritized varieties of English: excerpt featuring Dr Jeannette Allsopp
• Fighting language prejudice towards minoritized varieties of English: excerpt featuring Dr Kingsley Ugwuanyi
• Fighting language prejudice towards minoritized varieties of English: excerpt featuring Kelly Elizabeth Wright
• Dialect parody: what is it, and how does it affect the language is perceived? Excerpt featuring Dr Rosemary Hall
• What is code switching? How is it perceived, and documented? Excerpt featuring Dr Danica Salazar
• How can language documentation contribute to reduce language discrimination? Excerpt featuring Dr Catherine Sangster
• Addressing regional variations in the OED’s pronunciation models: excerpt featuring Dr Catherine Sangster

Information about any upcoming events and webinars, as well as recording from past events, will be posted on our webinar and events page. Recent events related to World Englishes are available to view below.

Oxford World English Symposium 2022

The sessions from the Oxford World English Symposium 2022 are now available for viewing:

Language prejudice and the documentation of minoritized varieties of English

Many still consider some varieties of English to be inferior to others. Such language prejudice has a clear social and economic impact on certain language communities, whose members are frequently marginalized because of their accents or their choice of words.

To mark the launch of the OED’s Varieties of English page, Dr Danica Salazar, World English Editor, and Dr Catherine Sangster, OED Executive Editor, were joined by a panel of guest speakers to discuss:

• Attitudes towards language variation
• Why are particular varieties valued over others? ​
• How does the perception of a language variety impact communication?
• Why is it important to document minoritized varieties of English?
• Code switching
• Dialect parody

Our guest panel was composed by:

• Dr Jeannette Allsopp, retired Senior Research Fellow in Lexicography and founder and former Director of the Richard and Jeannette Allsopp Centre for Caribbean Lexicography at the University of the West Indies
• Dr Rosemary Hall, Research Assistant, The Dialect and Heritage Project, University of Leeds
• Dr Kingsley Ugwuanyi, English Lecturer and Researcher, University of Nigeria
• Kelly Elizabeth Wright, PhD Candidate in Experimental Sociolinguistics, University of Michigan

The questions which could not be addressed during the webinar session were addressed by the panelists and their answers are available to view here.

Mama put in the OED: World Englishes and the Oxford English Dictionary

Dr Danica Salazar, OED World English Editor, and Mr Kingsley Ugwuanyi, one of OUP’s valued Nigerian English consultants, discussed how different varieties of World English are being included in the OED, the processes around this, and how researchers can get involved.

Watch the webinar below, and read the accompanying blog piece by Dr Danica Salazar on the OED blog: Circuit breakers, PPEs, and Veronica buckets: World Englishes and Covid-19.

Major health crises and the OED: language evolution and challenges in health communication

Language has had to adapt rapidly and repeatedly this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic – but what are the challenges faced when new medical terminology needs to be used within many varieties of English, and also with non-English speakers?

Join Dr Danica Salazar, OED World English Editor, and Richard Karl Deang, PhD candidate at the University of Virginia, for an interactive online presentation that will combine insights from medical anthropology and lexicography to address the following questions:

• New terms in current use in different parts of the world, and what social realities these words reveal
• Lessons learnt from other global health crises, and how can we use these to ensure more effective health communication?
• What considerations need to be made in crafting accurate and locally appropriate translations of Covid-19 terminology from English?

Watch the recording of this presentation here:

The questions that we were not able to address during the live presentation were passed on to the panellists and their answers are available to view here.

Covid-19 Multilingual Project

Oxford Languages, of which the OED is part, recognizes the importance of establishing a standard vocabulary around Covid-19 so that information can be communicated with clarity and precision. Oxford Languages are making these translations freely available in order to support local efforts to provide critical health advice to various communities around the world. The translations may also be of interest to those wishing to study how different languages are evolving as a result of the pandemic.

The Ontario Dialects Project

The way people may talk in small Ontario communities would slip through the cracks unless documented in a project like the ODP. The project offers the OED unique insight into the language of one of the world’s largest English-speaking nations.

Professor Sali Tagliamonte, University of Toronto, who heads the Ontario Dialects Project

The Ontario Dialects Project (ODP) has been documenting the dialects of Ontario, Canada, since 2002. The ODP’s research has identified many words of characteristic Canadian usage, such as May two-four and soaker, which have now been included in the OED.

• Learn more about the ODP’s collaboration with the OED
• Visit the Ontario Dialects Project website

The Richard and Jeannette Allsopp Centre for Caribbean Lexicography

[Caribbean English] is an extremely important variety… [The OED] helps to export it across the world and show that it has value and is a viable form of English and a colourful variety of English.

Dr Jeannette Allsopp, OED Caribbean English consultant

The Richard and Jeannette Allsopp Centre for Caribbean Lexicography is a research centre dedicated to producing and promoting dictionaries of Caribbean languages. Its honoured ancestor, Prof Richard Allsopp, the late Chief Editor of the Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage, was a consultant of long standing for the OED. The Centre’s founder, Dr Jeannette Allsopp, continues to be the OED‘s consultant on Caribbean English. She has worked closely with OED editors on a recent project to revise and expand the dictionary’s coverage of words used by English speakers in the Caribbean, such as tabanca and like peas.

• Learn more about the Centre’s collaboration with the OED
• Visit the website of the Richard and Jeannette Allsopp Centre for Caribbean Lexicography

• New York Times article, Hip, woke, cool: It’s all fodder for the Oxford Dictionary of African American English
• Nation (Kenya) article, Nyama choma, sambaza, collabo added to Oxford dictionary
• The World, interview with Dr Bebwa Isingoma, Oxford English Dictionary adds hundreds of East African words
• Irish Times article, Royal Irish Vocabulary – Frank McNally on the OED’s latest update, which includes bockety, bean an tí and Old Segotia
• BBC News article, Why 26 Korean words have been added to Oxford English Dictionary
• CBC (Canada), interview with Dr Jieun Kiaer, Oxford English Dictionary adds 26 Korean words to ‘enrich the English language‘
• The Guardian article, K-beauty, hallyu and mukbang: dozens of Korean words added to Oxford English Dictionary
• Segye Ilbo (South Korea), interview with Dr Danica Salazar (in Korean)
• YTN Radio (South Korea), interview with Prof Jiyoung Shin (in Korean)
• Caribbean Intelligence, interview with Dr Jeannette Allsopp, We ting and the Oxford English Dictionary
• Business Mirror (Philippines), Educators speak: Oxford editor looks into ‘Philippine English’
• The Royal Gazette (Bermuda), interview with Dr Rosemary Hall, Onion – and other Bermudian words – go to Oxford!

For further information and support, visit our help page, or contact us.